Indexes gapped up at the open and built on that all day as the S&P 500 jumped 1.19% and the NASDAQ 1.75%. In economic data a gauge of consumer confidence hit 94.5 in October, versus an 87 estimate, while orders for goods meant to last at least three years unexpectedly declined 1.3 percent in September. Tomorrow afternoon we will hear from the Fed; all expectations are for an end to QE but we might hear more dovish commentary as European economies will keep the Fed very easy on monetary policy.

Indexes opened up Wednesday but sold off in the afternoon. Some cited a shooting in Canada as a reason but the reality is when you enter a day so extremely overbought a “reason” will be found to slow momentum. Weakness in oil also hurt the energy sector. The S&P 500 fell 0.73% and the NASDAQ 0.83%. The Labor Department’s Consumer Price Index edged up 0.1 percent in September after falling 0.2 percent the prior month.

Indexes rebounded some from extreme oversold conditions Friday as stocks opened slightly up then built on that in the afternoon. The S&P 500 gained 0.86% and NASDAQ 1.02%. There should be a good 3 or so day rally somewhere here in this mess. In economic news, second quarter GDP was revised to a 4.6 percent annualized rate, up from the prior estimate of 4.2 percent, and in line with expectations. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan’s final read on consumer sentiment climbed to 84.6 in September from 82.5 the month before.

A generally quiet day in the markets was dominated by the crazy debut of Alibaba. The S&P 500 fell 0.05% and the NASDAQ 0.30%. Meanwhile, Alibaba surged 38% from its IPO price giving it a first day valuation of $200 billion! Oracle fell after its long time CEO Larry Ellison retired his spot to be Chairman, which hurt the NASDAQ.

We had the first down week in five this past one and our NYSE McClellan indicator helped us out a bit as it turned negative late last week and we didn’t see a return to positive this week. It need need be positive for the market to rally but it usually means less stocks are participating and we should be more cautious during these periods. For the day the S&P 500 fell 0.60% and the NASDAQ 0.53%. Next week the Federal Reserve will meet and another $10B reduction in quantitative easing should be announced. More interesting we are nearing a point that IF the Fed will raise interest rates in 2015 they MIGHT change some language in their statement – maybe it is too early for it now but if not now it would happen in one of the next few meetings. In economic data, retail sales rose in-line with expectations in August at 0.6 percent.

U.S. indexes finished mixed Monday with the S&P 500 down 0.31% while the NASDAQ advanced 0.20%. News flow was quiet as investors tried to figure out last Friday’s employment data so let’s get right to the charts!

Indexes opened down on a disappointing employment number but we are in a place here where Wall Street traders would not be adverse to some bad news as they want the Federal Reserve spigot running as long as possible. So after an initial drop, buyers came in the rest of the day and stocks closed out at the highs. The S&P 500 rallied 0.50% and the NASDAQ 0.45%. Nonfarm payrolls gained 142,000 jobs while the jobless rate declined to 6.1 percent. Economists had expected payroll growth of 225,000 last month.

Indexes opened up to start Tuesday but sold off modestly as the day progressed as someone somewhere tried to find something negative in the Yellen comments to Congress. So they found a blurb where she called valuations stretched for smaller social media and biotechnology stocks and those areas sold off. Something like this is usually forgotten about in 24 hours. For the day the S&P 500 fell 0.19% and the NASDAQ 0.54%.

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